Soft Matter Seminar: Prof. Andela Saric

Professor Andela Saric, Institute of Science and Technology Austria

“One becomes two: non-equilibrium assemblies that split cells across evolution”

Abstract. The molecular machinery of life is largely created via self-organisation of individual molecules into functional larger-scaled assemblies. Such processes are multi-scale in nature and constantly driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Our group develops minimal coarse-grained models to investigate how driven macromolecular assemblies result in living machines, and how such processes can fail, leading to diseases.

Today I will present our research on computational modelling of active filaments that dynamically reshape and cut cells across evolution. I will first discuss the physical mechanism of ESCRT-III filaments that drive cell division and perform cell trafficking in archaea and eukaryotes. I will then discuss the physical mechanism behind the dynamic self-organisation of active FtsZ filaments in the early stages of bacterial division. Througout, I will present comparisons of our models to live cell data. I will finish with our efforts in computationally evolving artificial assemblies that perform a desired function. Beyond their biological context, our models can also help guide the design of artificial structures that are able to mimic life at the nanoscale.

This is a virtual seminar. We will stream this seminar in the Physics Building Room 202. If you prefer to join remotely, please contact Sadjad Arzash at sarzash@syr.edu for the Zoom link.